The present invention relates to a method for installing and adjusting a door seal device on a door leaf for the purpose of sealing off a lower door gap, the door seal device having at least one trigger on the hinge side and/or lock side and the door seal device initially being installed in such a way that the trigger has a greater projection than necessary and the door is then closed, an axial displacement of the trigger with respect to a transmission element connected to the latter occurring as a result of a floor contact pressure of a seal profile that exceeds a reference value.
Door seal devices of the aforementioned type are installed in a door leaf by a carpenter or fitter, for example let into a groove. During installation, an adjustment must be made which ensures that the trigger projecting on the hinge side or lock side projects to such an extent that a sufficient axial displacement of the trigger takes place when the door is closed, ensuring the desired displacement of the seal profile which is lowered during closing. During this adjustment, various parameters have to be considered. Firstly, there is the matter of the required sealing height, that is to say the height of the lower gap between the door leaf and the floor. Furthermore, what is known as the rabbet clearance plays a part, that is the gap between the door leaf and the door frame in the rabbet area when the door is closed. Finally, there is the matter of what floor pressure is respectively desired for the sealing profile.
This floor pressure should not be too high, in order that the seal profile is not deformed too severely by the floor contact pressure when the door is closed. On the other hand, there must be at least a floor pressure such that the gap with respect to the floor is sealed off effectively. Since, in particular, the trigger on the hinge side ensures that the door seal is already lowered to a certain extent at a time before the door has reached its closed position, thought must also be given to the fact that the seal profile drags over the floor as a result of the floor pressure. An excessively high floor contact pressure therefore leads to wear of or damage to the seal device. The adjustment of the required floor pressure of the sealing profile is carried out by the installer via the corresponding position of the trigger. In some known seal devices, a tool is needed for this purpose, or the trigger fitting is constructed in a complicated manner with a spring to be pulled out, so that it is relatively time-consuming until the correct adjustment has been found. This is made more difficult in particular by the fact that the installer usually has to find the correct adjustment by trial and error, so that he possibly has to change the trigger position many times and, for this purpose, in each case has to open and close the door in order to monitor the result of the respective adjustment. EP-A-0841457 describes a door seal device of the generic type mentioned at the beginning in which the projection of the trigger is regulated by a threaded bolt used as a transmission element being screwed to a greater or lesser extent into an internal thread belonging to the trigger. In other known door seal devices, the adjustment is made by rotating the triggering element; in particular in the case of an angular triggering element on the lock side, it is frequently the case that a complete rotation of the trigger always has to be performed, so that no very fine adjustment is possible.
Furthermore, thought must be given to the fact that, depending on the construction of the door seal device and the formation of the transmission elements which convert the axial displacement travel of the trigger into a lowering movement of the seal, a relatively small change in the position of the trigger can lead to a much higher change in the floor lowering displacement of the seal. In particular, it is possible that the displacement of the seal profile is a multiple of the displacement of the trigger. For these reasons, it is particularly important that the most exact position of the trigger is chosen during the adjustment before the door seal is put into use.
FR 884 694 describes a door seal device of the generic type mentioned at the beginning. In order to avoid an excessively high floor contact pressure of the seal building up, the triggering mechanism is formed in two parts with a hollow rod which is connected to a lowering mechanism for a sealing bar. Within this hollow rod there is a further rod, which can be displaced axially over a certain distance in the first-named rod. In this case, a spring mechanism is provided, which has a spiral spring, which has two stops as abutments. As a result, the inner rod, which is connected directly to the projecting trigger, can slide within the outer rod when the floor contact pressure of the seal is too high. In this known door seal device, although compensation which avoids an excessively high floor contact pressure of the seal profile is produced during lowering by the spring, this is not a self-adjustment, since when the door is opened again, the trigger assumes its original position again. Therefore, if, in the case of this known door seal device, the trigger projects too far, during each closing operation, too high a pressure on the seal profile meeting the floor occurs, which leads to a dragging movement of the seal profile on the floor. Although this is then compensated for by the aforementioned spring during further closing the door, during each door closing operation, initially the excessively high loading of the seal profile occurs, and also a dragging movement on the floor. There is no optimum adjustment of the trigger, and high wear of the seal profile and of the mechanism is therefore to be expected.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for installing and adjusting a door seal device of the generic type mentioned at the beginning which avoids wear on seal profile and mechanism, is easy to install and permits simple achievement of the optimum adjustment of the trigger in each case with regard to the floor contact pressure of the seal profile in accordance with the respective constructional conditions. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a seal device, which can be used in a method of the aforementioned type.
This object is achieved by a method according to the invention for installing and adjusting a door seal device.